Grange Hill

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This children's Soap Opera ran on The BBC from 1978 to 2008. The series was set in the fictional school of the title somewhere in East London (where there is a real place called Grange Hill that has a London Underground station) until 2003, when the entire school magically moved to Merseyside. It was eventually discontinued in 2008 after running 30 years.

The original circus-beat theme tune continues to be used as the soundtrack to any appearance by school children or a class room, regardless of the fact that it was used for less than half of the 30-year run.

There was a Commodore 64 game adaptation of it, which sold poorly because Real Life offered the same gameplay options with vastly better graphics, but is notable for the following Have a Nice Death:

"You see a shifty man in a leather jacket. "Hey, Son. Want to buy some of this?" The man offers you a packet of white powder. He is a pusher." [Player selects "Yes"] "There is an empty look in his eye as he snatches the money from your hand. His face is pale and drawn; His body thin and unfed. He steals to keep his habit; And makes addicts of children. He is dead, and soon you will be too."

There is a fan site at: http://www.grangehillfans.co.uk/

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This show contains examples of:

• Bully Hunter: Tucker had this reputation in the early seasons.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Highly prevalent in the first few series, there were at least a dozen schoolkids that disappeared without trace and were never mentioned again by any of the schoolkids, which included previously major characters such as Tracy Edwards and Penny Lewis, and several teachers came and went without trace too, often replaced with identical personality replacements.
• Disturbing Statistic: Martin thoughtlessly mentions that Britain had the highest divorce rate in Europe to a girl whose parents are divorcing.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: "We're the only kids in the country who never say fu..."
• Hey It's That Guy
  • A young Alex Kingston, better known today as River Song on Doctor Who, plays Alpha Bitch Jill Harcourt.
  • Mr Bronson may also be known as Admiral Ozzel or Adolf Hitler.
• Hot for Student
• Long Runners
• Misplaced Retribution: In one mid-'90s episode, a guy and a girl try to escape from a fire by climbing out of a window. She slips, falls to her death, her boyfriend blames the guy who was with her and spends the rest of the season stalking and harassing him.
• Remember the New Guy: Happened a few times, the most obvious example being in Series 3/4. Duane Orpington's best friend in Series 3 was a girl called Tracy Edwards and was seen with her in every episode he was featured in. In Series 4, Tracy had vanished and his 'new' best friend was Claire Scott, who was virtually the same character as Tracy personality wise and was treated by everyone as having always been there.
• Sadist Teacher: Mr Bronson, who had very rare Pet the Dog moments.
  • An early 2000s storyline had "Mr. Devrille" (SP?), who was actually an impostor who had already been banned from teaching for his behaviour.
    • Mr Bronson's actor, Michael Sheard, also played Adolf Hitler in four films (including Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) and a TV series, Himmler in two films and a mini-series, Goering's double in Allo Allo, an Imperial Admiral in The Empire Strikes Back and a villainous headmaster in the classic Doctor Who serial "Remembrance of the Daleks. He clearly just had one of those faces.
• Spin-Off: Tucker's Luck followed Tucker Jenkins after he left school.
  • Given the amount of former Grange Hill cast members who end up on Eastenders...
• Teen Pregnancy: Grange Hill was the first British soap opera to deal with it.
• Two-Teacher School: Averted, there's about the same amount of teachers you'd expect in a British secondary school.
• Very Special Episode: Many, most famously the "Zammo takes drugs" storyline, which completely averted Compressed Vice by lasting for months, and led to the cast record "Just Say No!"